


Candy

by kellallyourfriends



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Breakup, Light Angst, M/M, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 02:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14684781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellallyourfriends/pseuds/kellallyourfriends
Summary: The only thing that gets Alex through a breakup is chocolate. And maybe the candy store's cashier.





	Candy

_"im sry"_

_"we r dn"_

_"nice 2 kno u"_

He saw the first one and dismissed it.

He saw the second one and called her.

He saw the third one and broke down sobbing into his pillow, his bedroom window open, his neighbors out and about in the apartment complex courtyard. 

That was the longest text he got from Tay.

And the last.

To say he was absolutely crushed was a terrible understatement. Alexander William Gaskarth was beyond crushed, indescribably obliterated by the message. Every fibre of his being hurt, filled to the brim with guilt and wishful thinking. She'd told him that she loved him, but now he was simply "nice to know."

The words stuck in his mind like a knife in warm butter, tainting all his memories of her. Spier and Greenfeld Ice Cream, where they'd had their first date, was now Nice2KnoU Ice Cream. Jock Strap Pharmacy, where he'd gone out at three AM in December to get her cough medicine, was now Nice2KnoU Pharmacy. Maryland State Beach, the place their graduation party had been held? Nice2KnoU Beach.

Everywhere they'd ever gone, ruined by one heavily abbreviated phrase.

Later that evening, he'd called Rian.

"Alex, don't get yourself down over this," Rian had said. "You're a great person, with a lot of great qualities. You can sing real good. Tay doesn't know what she's missing. You're just nice to know, you know?"

Alex had hung up on him and continued his sob-fest until he was too tired.

That stupid fucking message. It may've been irrational on his part to obsess over it so, but he couldn't help it. Tay's parting words to him stated he was nice to know. Nothing more. 

He called in sick to work the next day and bribed himself with candy to get out of bed the day after. 

If he'd had a car, maybe he wouldn't've found work to be such a grueling task, but he was broke as fuck and walked everywhere. To his office on the other end of town it was.

And he'd stop by Nice2KnoU Sweets on the way home, like always.

Nice2KnoU Sweets (formerly Bubble...Pop! Sweets) was a gaudy, bright, downright ugly store. Its exterior design featured eye-melting neon polka dots on a blazing yellow background, with a few chibi faces here and there for good measure. It would've served as a very good military-grade blinding weapon.

Alex pushed open the pink-tinted glass door and glanced around at the selection of candy. The new gummy shapes didn't quite pull him in; neither did any of the hard candy displays. His eyes settled on the chocolate shelf. 

Chocolate was what he got every time he went to this particular candy store, and maybe that made him boring, but who cares? It was chocolate. It tasted good. And it treated Alex better than any girl.

He strode across the store and picked out a small assortment and a bag of chocolate coins for good measure. Nothing else on the shelf screamed his name, so he decided that would be it. He made his way through the labyrinthine candy displays toward the register.

The cashier was one of those trashy punk kids. Alex recognized him from many previous candy runs; he was the guy who was never seen in public without at least one earbud in. 

Alex placed his candy on the counter. The cashier looked up and smiled blandly. "Cash or card?"

"Um, card," said Alex, and handed his card across the counter.

"Will that be it?" asked the cashier. He smiled and scanned Alex's card. The guy had a nice smile. Alex almost forgot the question he'd been asked.

"Yeah," said Alex, snapping out of it.

"Are you sure?" asked the cashier. "You usually buy way more than this."

Alex scratched the back of his head. "How would you know?"

"Dude, you're here all the time," said the cashier. "I don't even know your name, but I know your buying habits. From what I can tell, you have a massive sweet tooth."

"Um, yeah, I do," said Alex. "What's your name, if you know me so well?"

"Jack," said the cashier. "College student, cashier at Bubble...Pop! Sweets, and more."

"Well, uh, I'm Alex," said Alex. 

"Nice to meet you, Alex," said Jack, and held out his hand. 

Alex stared at his outstretched palm until he realized that Jack might want to shake hands. Hastily, he took Jack's hand in his own and shook it. 

"You're smooth," said Jack. "Here's your candy." With that, he picked up Alex's filled shopping bag and passed it across the checkout counter.

"Thanks," Alex picked up the bag and turned to leave before adding, "Jack."

"Bye, sweet tooth," called Jack as Alex made his way to the store's entrance.

The walk from Nice2KnoU Sweets to Alex's apartment was a moderately short and uninteresting one. The sun was setting, some children were playing in the nearby park, and nobody was murdered, robbed, or harmed in any form (unless you count the homeless man on the corner of Sabine and Saylor). All was well in evening Baltimore. 

Even Chesworth Creek Drive was calm. It was a rarity for Alex's street not to have some sort of scandal occurring upon its asphalt. For this quaintness he was thankful. After all, he had some delicate cargo to transport. 

His apartment complex was rather small and made entirely out of bricks. It consisted of three buildings: two apartment blocks and a common building for utilities in front. A bit run-down, perhaps, but Alex could hardly afford more.

The stairs of Apartment Block B creaked under Alex's feet. Unbothered, he trudged up to the second landing and started down the gray, musty hallway. Every step he took kicked up dust from the beige carpet and polluted the air around him, but he didn't mind at this point. He had a place to sleep and masturbate; he figured he was fine.

Alex stopped two doors from the end of the corridor and fumbled in his massive man-pockets for his key. After some extensive searching, he got it out and let himself into his apartment. 

He set his candy on the dining table and sat down in his favorite (read: only) chair. It was about time, he thought, for him to think about something other than a certain Tay Jardine. What better way to do that than chocolate? 

The plastic bag crinkled as he extracted his purchase. The assortment still had its lid on, and none of the chocolate coins had broken, as far as he could see, and the damn cashier had remembered to get him a receipt. All in all, a success. He was just about to open the bag of coins when he noticed something off about the receipt.

It had all the markings of a usual Nice2KnoU Sweets receipt-total cost, purchases, cashier's signature, 5% Off coupons-but there were new markings, ones he hadn't seen on a candy receipt before. Upon closer inspection, they were handwritten. Alex brought the slip of paper into clear view and smoothed it out.

"Hey! This is Jack. Call me or something. But not until 8 cuz that's when I get off." Then a phone number.

Well, shit.

Alex knew he couldn't call Jack. Why, he was uncertain, but he just couldn't. They didn't know each other. He'd say something weird and never be able to go back to Nice2KnoU Sweets. 

That fear kept him from replying to the first three voicemails.

It took him two hours and seven chocolates before he finally forced himself to even listen to them, much less respond. 

After a cherry truffle, though, he finally gave in. 

"Sup. It's Jack. You're in our rewards program and that's how I know your number. At least I think it's you. If I've got the wrong Alex I'm so fucked. Gaskarth, right? If that's not you, just, like, delete this. Capiche?"

"Okay. I just got off the phone with the three other Alexes in our rewards program and none of them are you, so I know this is the right Alex. Come on, you can answer the phone. Don't be shy. I don't bite unless we're both naked."

"Dude, I know you're there. I mean, if you're at someone's bat mitzvah or something, sorry, I just assumed your location, but let's be real here. You're sitting at home moping. I've successfully predicted the lives of every customer I've got. Once I got this old lady who just bought one solid chocolate block, and the next time she came in I was like 'I'm so sorry to hear about your cat,' and she got all misty-eyed and thanked me and bought another chocolate block. So lemme guess. Breakup? Was she pretty? Did she have nice chesticles? That sucks, man. So like, I get if you don't want to talk about it, but can you, like, at least text me or something?"

Alex hated to admit it, but Jack's usage of the word "chesticles" made him smile. He glanced at the clock. Seven fifty-nine. 

Maybe he would call.


End file.
